Green shoots of recovery leads OECD to believe worst of recession over

According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the worst of the recession may be over for Britain.

The OECD has gathered its evidence by measuring a range of statistics, including trends in stock markets and business surveys.

The influential think tank said while output is still shrinking, there have been some green shoots of recovery with the possibility of the recession being over by August.

Its forecast comes after the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) said today that its members believe house price falls will stabilise in coming months.

Rics added enquiries by new buyers have increased for the sixth consecutive month.

Furthermore, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) announced today that the British High Street saw a flurry of shoppers in April, as a result of the good weather.

The BRC said like-for-like sales, which excludes sales from new shops, rose by 4.6% in April, compared with the same month last year.

However, the BRC did caution that the worry for the retail sector this year is rising unemployment, which will see consumers continue to rein in spending.

Returning to the OECD’s forecast, it has reported that Britain, France and Italy were all “showing tentative signs of a pause in the economic slowdown“.

George Soros, multi-billionaire investor, has echoed the forecast from the OECD stating that “a meltdown of the world’s financial system had been averted“. Meanwhile, president of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet, said some countries had already emerged from the worst of the recession.

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